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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5239 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5239

    To require the Secretary of Defense to manage risks relating to 
    military use of artificial intelligence, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 25, 2024

   Mr. Welch introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To require the Secretary of Defense to manage risks relating to 
    military use of artificial intelligence, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Artificial Intelligence Weapon 
Accountability and Risk Evaluation Act of 2024'' or the ``AWARE Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. MANAGING RISKS RELATING TO MILITARY USE OF ARTIFICIAL 
              INTELLIGENCE.

    (a) Ledger of Use and Deployment.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act the Secretary of Defense shall 
        commence creating, and not later than three years after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act the Secretary shall complete 
        creating, a ledger of all uses by the Department of Defense of 
        covered systems.
            (2) Requirements.--The Secretary shall ensure that the 
        ledger created pursuant to paragraph (1)--
                    (A) is a structured, indexed database; and
                    (B) maintained and updated on a regular basis to 
                ensure that the ledger is accurate.
    (b) Risk Assessment Process.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than three years after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a 
        risk assessment process that holistically evaluates each unique 
        implementation by the Department of a covered system included 
        in the ledger required by subsection (a).
            (2) Elements.--
                    (A) In general.--The process required by paragraph 
                (1) shall, at a minimum, cover matters relating to the 
                following:
                            (i) Dependability.
                            (ii) Cybersecurity.
                            (iii) Privacy.
                            (iv) Bias.
                            (v) Bias towards escalation.
                            (vi) Deployment span.
                            (vii) Risk of civilian harm.
                    (B) Bias towards escalation.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A)(v), the process shall cover the intent 
                of the system and assess for any bias relating to 
                whether the technology ever escalates or deescalates 
                conflict situations.
                    (C) Deployment span.--For purposes of subparagraph 
                (A)(vi), the process shall address changes in risk 
                levels based on whether covered systems are deployed 
                singularly or in clusters or swarms.
            (3) Annual assessments.--The Secretary shall ensure that 
        the process required by paragraph (1) requires reevaluation of 
        each covered system included in the ledger required by 
        subsection (a)--
                    (A) not less frequently than annually; and
                    (B) whenever--
                            (i) the underlying foundation artificial 
                        intelligence model receives an update;
                            (ii) the Department procures any covered 
                        system that has not previously been evaluated 
                        by the process; and
                            (iii) a new weapons review of a covered 
                        system is conducted by the Department.
    (c) Annotations Regarding Exports.--The Secretary shall annotate in 
the ledger required by subsection (a) when--
            (1) a covered system developed or owned by the Department 
        is shared with a foreign country, exported to a foreign 
        country, or used by any foreign person or government; and
            (2) such sharing, exporting, or use presents additional 
        risk covered by the risk assessment process required by 
        subsection (b).
    (d) Progress Reports to Congress.--Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently once each 
year thereafter until the date that is three years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 
report on the progress of the Secretary in carrying out this Act.
    (e) Annual Submissions to Congress.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than three years after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently than once 
        each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress an 
        annual submission that includes the following:
                    (A) The ledger required by subsection (a).
                    (B) An annual report on the findings of the 
                Secretary with respect to the risk assessments 
                conducted, in the year covered by the annual 
                submission, pursuant to the risk assessment process 
                established under subsection (b).
                    (C) The annotations made under subsection (c) 
                during the year covered by the annual submission.
            (2) Form.--Each submission under paragraph (1) shall be, to 
        the fullest extent possible, in unclassified form, but may 
        include a classified annex to the degree the Secretary 
        considers necessary.
            (3) Public availability.--The Secretary shall make 
        available to the public the unclassified portion of each annual 
        submission under paragraph (1).
    (f) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the ledger 
created pursuant to subsection (a)(1) will reflect strong and 
continuing commitment of the Department of Defense to being a 
transparent global leader in establishing responsible policies 
regarding military uses of artificial intelligence-enabled weapons, 
targeting, and decision support systems.
    (g) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to reduce any existing privacy, safety, or security 
protections or guardrails in effect before the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
    (h) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``artificial intelligence'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 5002 of the National Artificial 
        Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401).
            (2) The term ``covered system'' includes the following 
        systems that are enabled by artificial intelligence:
                    (A) A weapon system.
                    (B) A targeting system.
                    (C) A decision support system that aids a system 
                described in subparagraph (A) or (B).
                                 <all>
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